First Impressions in Belize

While driving in to Belize City from the airport, and then on to San Ignacio on the Express bus I tried to just see what was in front of me, but found it hard not to make comparisons - the wooden houses on stilts remind me of Thailand, or the big vehicles and some advertising make me think of Texas.

While writing this I have just been interrupted/ serenaded by the "Reggae Ambassador for Belize", while I sit out the front of a cafe Flayva's in San Ignacio.  A song he has written about Belize, "This is Belize where we live with ease; we get vege-tables and eggs with ease, get honey from the bees and we can go to the Cayes".  A friendly Rasta who is wandering around welcoming tourists to Belize with his battered guitar and big personality.

One of things that has stood out about Belize is the great diversity in the cultural backgrounds of the people who live here, peacefully side by side.  Creole, Garifuna, Mestizo, Maya, White, Chinese, Indian, Mennonites and the Amish.  It has been interesting to see the diversity in faces and languages (though all speak the official English).  New Years Eve at the Block Party on Burns Street in San Ignacio evidenced a little of the melting pot that is Belize.

Driving out of Belize City towards San Ignacio the sun soon set and much of my trip was in darkness, but my impressions were of a flat landscape where the trees alongside the road formed a corridored view of the countryside.  Colourful wooden houses broke up the green of the vegetation at irregular intervals and we passed a graveyard where all the tombs were raised and the white-washed and concrete majority were liberally scattered with yellow, blue and even bubblegum pink ones. 

In spite of a temporary stress due to a non-answered phone, my trip to Kumquat Cottage (kumquatcottage.com) went remarkably to plan.  Almost disconcerting after the previous week's London adventures! The house is very pleasant, eccentric and creative and has  everything you would need for a pleasant stay and a great 'jungle' garden (complete with a once sighted iguana!)  A good place to start my Belizean trip.